1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor manufacturing device and a maintenance method thereof. Other example embodiments of the present invention relate to chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) devices capable of performing a pad conditioning operation using megasonic waves, a pad conditioner assembly and a polishing pad conditioning method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well-known in the art of semiconductor manufacturing processing that a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process may be used as a planarization process. In general (as illustrated in FIG. 1), a CMP process may be performed using a CMP device that includes a carrier 15 and a polishing table 11. A wafer W may be mounted on the carrier 15. A polishing pad 13 may be attached to the polishing table 11. In the CMP process, when the wafer W is mounted onto the carrier 15, the carrier 15 may rotate such that the wafer W contacts the polishing table 11. While the polishing table 11 is rotating, wafer W may be pressed onto and simultaneously moved over the polishing table 11, having the polishing pad 13 attached thereon. As such, the wafer W may be polished and planarized. It may be necessary to use a slurry 17 in the CMP process. The slurry 17 may include uniformly-sized abrasives.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, pores 14 may form at a surface of the polishing pad 13. During the wafer polishing process, the pores 14 of the polishing pad 13 may be damaged and/or an opening of the pore 14 may be blocked by foreign substances 18. The openings of the pores 14 may also be blocked by the abrasives of the slurry 17 when the slurry 17 solidifies. If the pores 14 are damaged, a polishing rate may be reduced and/or scratches may occur on a surface of wafer, making it difficult to achieve a more stable CMP process. In an attempt to increase the stability of the CMP process, a pad conditioner 19 may be placed in contact with the polishing pad 13 to condition and develop the surface of the polishing pad 13, prior to and after the wafer polishing operation.
A diamond particle layer 19a may be formed on a lower surface of the pad conditioner 19. Diamond particles of the pad conditioner 19 may be used to perform a pad condition sweep operation to remove the slurry abrasives and the foreign substances from the pores 14. During the pad condition sweep operation, the diamond particles may be separated from the pad conditioner 19. The separated diamond particles may damage or pollute the surface of the polishing pad 13. Also, the function of removing the slurry abrasives and the foreign substances from the surface of the polishing pad 13 may be ineffective depending on the size of the pores 14.